Kitty Block

Vice President, Humane Society International

The Humane Society of the United States

Kitty Block is Vice President of Humane Society International (HSI).

She oversees The HSUS's efforts in numerous international treaties and agreements including the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora and Species Survival Network, the International Whaling Commission, and the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission.

Block lobbies member countries on international treaties and agreements, drafts resolutions and convention amendments, presents policy papers and serves on oversight panels.

She provides legal analysis and drafts position papers on domestic and international laws, drafts legislation and provides testimony before legislatures. She works with government agencies to help enforce environmental and animal protection laws, builds coalitions with environmental protection organizations and industries. She has also collaborated with National Geographic Television on an international primate trade investigation.

Block brought and won three lawsuits against the George W. Bush Administration for weakening the dolphin-safe label. She has raised the level of protection for three species of whales at the Convention of Migratory Species and has stopped the downlisting of great whales at two CITES meetings.

Block serves on the international review panel of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission and co-chairs the Species Survival Network's working group on whales. She is a member of the Maryland and District of Columbia Bar Associations.

Prior to joining The HSUS, Block was an associate at Hirschkop & Associates. She served as a law clerk with the Public Corruption Unit of the U.S. Attorney's Office at the U.S. Department of Justice.

Block received a law degree from The George Washington University in 1990 and a bachelor's degree in communications and philosophy from the University of New Hampshire in 1986.